Remarks at a Campaign
Fundraising Dinner for Senator David K. Karnes of Nebraska

July 11, 1988

Ladies
and gentlemen, the first order of business tonight is for me to express my deep
gratitude to each of you for coming here to help make possible a matter of
national importance: the election of Dave Karnes to the United States Senate.
You see, when it comes to the next Senator from the great State of Nebraska -- well, let me put it
like this: The best man for the job is already there.

But
greetings to the members of the Nebraska congressional delegation with us
tonight -- Congressman Doug Bereuter of the First District, Congressman Hal
Daub of the Second District, and Congresswoman Virginia Smith of the Third
District -- and to Governor Kay Orr, who will view this wonderful event on
television back in Nebraska. Kay, I just have the feeling
that, come election day, the people of Nebraska are going to confirm your
wisdom in appointing Dave Karnes to the Senate. And special greetings, of
course, to Dave's wonderful wife, Liz, and to their daughters -- I see the four
of them right here -- Korey, Kalen,
Kara, and Laurel. I don't know whether a romance between a man in his seventies
and a little girl of four has much of a future -- [laughter] -- but when I said
hello to Laurel just a few moments ago,
well, I took one look into those big brown eyes and just plain lost my heart.
[Laughter]

But
we came here this evening to talk business, and that's just what we'll do. Back
in 1980 America faced a crisis. We had
all the usual trappings of government, but no real leadership. It was sort of
like one of my favorite stories. This had to do with a fellow that applied to
the zoo for a job. And they interviewed him and all and finally told him, yes,
he could have the job. And when he came in in the
morning, they said, ``But I tell you, we lost our ape, and you'll have to take
his place in this ape suit just until the next one arrives that we've sent for.
And then you'll be at your regular job here in the zoo.'' Well, he got into the
suit, and they said, ``You just get in the cage and
just kind of move around. There's a rope in there you can swing on and stuff
and entertain the children.'' [Laughter] So, he did.

Well,
he kind of got carried away with it after a while, with the children all
looking at him and so forth. And finally he was swinging on that rope, and he
swung too far -- up over the top of the cage and dropped into the lion's cage.
And the lion came roaring at him and jumped on him. And he started screaming,
``Get me out of here! Save me! Help me! Get me out of here!'' And the lion
whispered, ``Shut up, or you'll get us both fired!'' [Laughter]

Well,
as I said, America faced a crisis. The
month when George Bush and I took our oath of office, inflation stood in double
digits. The prime interest rate hit the highest point since the Civil War. And
economic growth was disappearing. It didn't matter where you came from, whether
you were a man or a woman or black or white, if you'd scrimped and struggled
and saved to send your children to college, the 12.4 percent inflation rate was
slamming shut the doors of opportunity. If you had a dream of owning your own
home, inflation and interest rates were closing those doors of opportunity. And
for working men and women who needed loans to start their own business and for
farmers who needed loans to plant their crops, 21\1/2\ percent prime interest
rates were closing the doors on their dreams too.

At
the same time, our defenses had grown weak. Real spending on defense had
dropped, and research and development had been cut back. The Navy had fallen
from nearly 1,000 battle-ready ships to under 500. We Americans watched as the
Soviets amassed vast military might, then intimidated our allies and fueled
regional conflict.

I'm
convinced that in 1980 America faced one of those
historic choices that comes to a nation only a few times
in a century. We could continue our decline, perhaps comforting ourselves by
calling it inevitable, or we could realize that there is no such thing as
inevitable and choose instead to make a new beginning. Well, we made that new
beginning. And with the help of a Republican Senate, we cut the growth of
spending. We eliminated needless regulations. We reduced personal income tax
rates. And we passed an historic reform called tax indexing: Government can no
longer use inflation to profit at the people's expense.

Perhaps
many of you didn't realize, paying your income tax in those inflationary days, that your purchasing power was going down; your money
was worth less. But because the numbers of dollars were increasing -- if you
were getting adjusted somehow that way, your tax was based on the number of
dollars, not on their value. And so, the Government profited, and you were
worse off than you were before you got, say, a cost of living increase.

Well,
today our nation has one big program to help every American man, woman, and
child; and it's called economic recovery. In foreign policy, we've let the
world know once again that America stands for political,
religious, and economic freedom of mankind. And by restoring both our military
strength and a firm sense of national purpose, we've achieved an historic
agreement with the Soviet Union: the INF treaty. This treaty eliminates an
entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear
missiles for the first time ever.

Now
America faces another crucial
election, one that will do much to set our course for the entire decade of the
1990's. The choice is simple: We can go forward with George Bush and Dave
Karnes, or we can go back with, well, those other fellows. [Laughter]

Back
to higher taxes. Now, I know that other fellow claims he won't raise taxes. The
truth is he just did. And not only has he hiked taxes as Governor of
Massachusetts but in the last 5 years he's increased Massachusetts State
spending at double the rate of Federal spending. He spent every dime and more
of the revenue generated in his State by the Reagan-Bush recovery.

Back
to weaker defenses -- the likely Democratic nominee has proposed cut after cut
in the Pentagon budget, cuts that would undermine or eliminate crucial systems
and lower morale among our men and women in uniform. Of course, that other
fellow is trying to make it look as though he's for a strong defense, but when
it comes to defense, the Democratic nominee is a sheep in wolf's clothing.
Already, the truth about the Democratic nominee's record is beginning to be
recognized.

And
when the voters fully understand the difference between the shiny image and the
tarnished reality, well, there's another story that sort of explains what it's
going to be like. That's the one about the railroad engineer that got up one
morning on the wrong side of the bed. His shoelace broke when he tried to put
his shoes on; got down to the breakfast table, the coffee was cold; had trouble
then getting his car started. He was running late. And then, when he finally
got to the yards, started the train and pulled out, looked down the line only
to see another train coming toward him at full speed on the same track, turned
to the fireman, and he said, ``Have you ever had one of those days?''
[Laughter]

Well,
I'm convinced that, for all those who want to take America back to the days of tax
and tax, spend and spend, election day 1988 is going
to be one of those days. You do agree, don't you? [Applause]

The
way forward is the way of low taxes. And believe it or not, with our tax cuts,
the total revenues the Government obtained from those lower rates began to go
up and is still doing that. The way forward is, as I
say, low taxes, high growth. And it's the way of a strong America, dedicated to the
expansion of human freedom. It's the way of Republicans like George Bush and
Dave Karnes. We need to have a Republican Senate so that our accomplishments of
the last 7\1/2\ years will not be undone. You know that many of our
achievements came when we had our fellows in control of the Senate -- just that
one House. Well, I want to help George Bush have a Senate that he can work
with.

Dave
Karnes has already proven that he's a winner. He was 1 of 15 Americans selected
from more than 18,000 who sought application to serve as a White House fellow
in 1981. Impressed with Dave Karnes' performance, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development asked him to stay on as Executive Assistant to the Under
Secretary. He's been a member of this administration, and I must say we were proud
to have him. And now, during his time in the Senate, he's stood with us on vote
after vote, working to keep America strong and our economy
growing.

Given
his background -- Dave manages the family farm and continues to do so even to
this day -- it's no surprise that Dave has taken the lead on crucial farm
legislation. He's promoted farm legislation that's fiscally responsible,
market-oriented, and fair. And he's worked tirelessly to help our rural
communities. And Dave is absolutely determined to see to it that America's family farms -- and,
yes, the values they represent -- will be there for future generations.

Family
farms and the values they represent -- this brings me to the subject that's
perhaps most distinguished Dave Karnes in the United States Senate: his
unshakable commitment to family values. Dave has pressed for innovative
measures in education. As the father of four daughters, and with Liz's interest
in education -- she's on the school board in Omaha and worked for Barbara
Bush on literacy projects -- education is high on Dave's list of priorities.
Dave has supported antipornography legislation, and
Dave has worked to pass tough antidrug legislation.
He believes with Nancy and me that the time has come for America to just say no to drugs.

I
know this is going to be a tough campaign, and so does Dave Karnes. And that's
why we need your help. But I do want to let you know that the momentum is on
Dave's side. He was down in the polls when this campaign first began -- down by
some 40 percent. But the people of Nebraska have gotten to know
Dave Karnes, and they've grown to like him. And the latest poll, taken by
Dave's opponent, shows that he is closing fast.

That's
the kind of spirit I like. You know, it reminds me of reading about a poll
about another candidate in January 1980. [Laughter] It was taken at the
National Press Club luncheon here in Washington on the eve of the
primary season. Jimmy Carter got a large number of votes, and so did Teddy
Kennedy. But there was one candidate on the Republican side who got so few
votes from the wise men of Washington that it wasn't even
reported in the lineup. I'm not going to tell you who that was -- [laughter] --
his initials happen to be RR. So, I have a hunch that being underestimated
could turn out to be Dave's secret weapon. What it comes down to is this: The
people of Nebraska can count on Senator
Dave Karnes to defend freedom, to defend America, to defend the American
taxpayer, and to defend the American family.

It's
like I said at the beginning: When it comes to the next Senator from the great
State of Nebraska, the best man, Dave
Karnes, is already on the job. He's exactly the opposite of a Democratic State
senator in California when I was Governor. We
came to a year in which we had a surplus of $850 million, and the question was
what to do with it. And I said, let's give it back. And we did. We worked out a
system to give it all back to the people. And one day, that Democratic senator
stormed into my office, and he expressed the philosophy of his party. He said,
``Giving that money back -- that's an unnecessary expenditure of public
funds.'' [Laughter] So, that's the way they think about it. When I said
earlier, tax and tax, and spend and spend, that isn't something we invented.
One of them, at the height of the New Deal, proudly expressed that was the
policy of their party: tax and tax, and spend and spend.

Well,
some changes have been made, and we're going to keep on making them. You just
send Dave back here where he belongs. And I thank you all. God bless you all.

Note: The President
spoke at 5:57 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the J.W. Marriott Hotel.